An interesting project that we recently completed

[scsmith42]

My "day job" is running a farm based sawmill and kiln drying operation in NC. We specialize in milling and slabbing oversized (up to 72" wide) and overlength (up to 58' long) logs, quartersawing and kiln drying.

We work with a number of individuals, companies and universities that are interested in sustainable forestry and "treecycling" trees that have to be removed due to disease or construction needs.  I really enjoy these types of projects, as it is mentally and emotionally stimulating to work with a talented design team to create ways to preserve and showcase the beauty of the wood for generations.

A couple of years ago we were invited to partner with Duke University on a new construction project on campus - the student Health and Wellness Center.  Our role was to survey the proposed construction site, advise of potential uses for the logs from the site, and to provide the related milling, drying and ancillary services.  At the site we found it had a nice trove of older growth white oak trees and a few red oaks, along with southern  yellow pine and a mixture of smaller hardwoods.

The site that those trees came from was Anderson Woods. Anderson Woods is a remnant patch of old growth that has been extensively studied at Duke, starting with Clarence Korstian (one of the pioneers of American forestry) in the 1930s. All the trees in the plot are censused and measured every few years in addition to a ton of other studies of the soils, birds, mammals, etc. I'm told that everybody in the forestry school was up in arms when the school decided to cut parts of it down to build the new wellness center; but hopefully the treecycling that we did will help to offset some of the angst.

At the site walk I advised the architectural team that some of the logs would be best used to make white oak veneer to be used in the building, others could be quarter and flat sawn for lumber for the cabinets, and, in answer to a query from one architect, agreed that some logs would be suitable as log benches indoors.

They very kindly incorporated our suggestions into the plans, and a little over a year ago we picked up several loads of logs for processing into veneer, lumber and log benches.  The veneer logs were selected by me and delivered to a specialty veneer splicing company for processing per our specs, and we were actively involved in that entire process.

Mid last year the project team met at our shop to review the veneer samples, and they were supportive to utilizing a good amount of quartersawn, high fleck veneer in the panels, in addition to the more traditional rift sawn.  We hand selected all of the flitches from the entire batch and shipped the veneer to a panel maker in Kentucky. The remaining lumber produced from the trees that grew onsite will be used for other projects on campus.  I think that the panel maker did an extraordinary job.

This past Sunday we delivered the benches.  Their original design called for square cuts on all faces, but the architects agreed to our suggestion to leave the front and back sides live edge.

Normally we don't get involved with finish work (prefer to refer that portion of the job to some of our customers), but in this instance the logistics of handling massive, heavy, oversized benches was beyond the capabilities of the folks that we would normally use - so we did them in-house.

The welding portion of the project was fairly simple and was comprised of cutting some 3" channel bases and welding them up to be installed under the log benches. The inside of the channel was filled with oak planks that were glued and screwed together and the benches are actually supported by the wood (the channel is primarily for decoration).

The benches were rough milled last year, air dried for several months, placed into our Nyle L200 kiln for several days in order to sterilize them (it is impossible to fully kiln dry white oak that is 15" thick, and in this instance the honeycomb that was bound to occur would not negatively impact the final product), and then planed with our Peterson planer blade, sanded and finished with multiple coats of Heritage Natural Finishes Concentrated Finishing Oil (the old Land Ark formula).  There was a lot of hand work in chamfering the edges of the checks so as to prevent splinters from developing over time.

We made a 6 footer, 7 footer and a 20 footer. The 20 footer weighs around 3000 lbs.  I'm pleased with how they came out.



 



 



 



 


Here are some photo's of the veneered panels.  All of this came from logs harvested from the site.  The architects were very receptive to our suggestion to incorporate quartersawn, higher fleck veneer with some of the more traditional rift pattern.  They also came up with an idea to utilize some of the character wood veneer as accent panels in the wall.  It really came out well.



 



 



 



 

[caveman]

Thank you for sharing the experience.  I enjoy reading about your projects. 

[21incher]

That is a great project, thanks for sharing. 

[Czech_Made]

Thanks for sharing

[Bruno of NH]

I like reading your post.
The was a great project .

[WDH]

I love this!  Very inspiring.  The benches are great, especially with the cracks and checks.  You won't have to worry about thieves carrying them off.

Scott, that is one fine job.  I am going to have to make some benches like those unless you object. 

[rasman57]

You should be proud of that collaborative effort with those folks.  You and your team saved a bit of history and incorporated into a place where it can be appreciated.   Good stuff right there.  Thanks for posting the story.

[thecfarm]

All does look well. There will be some that will pass through there and know the work and time it took to do all that.

[scsmith42]

I love this!  Very inspiring.  The benches are great, especially with the cracks and checks.  You won't have to worry about thieves carrying them off.

Scott, that is one fine job.  I am going to have to make some benches like those unless you object.

Thanks all for the kind words!

Danny, help yourself.  You might want to check out the Concentrated Finishing Oil from Heritage Natural Finishes if you do build some.  Years ago members of the FF turned me on to Land Ark for timberframes, and the Heritage finish is the same product.  It works well on green timbers.

The targeted seating height was 18", with a goal of keeping the timber as thick as possible.  In order to get the proportions right we started off with logs that were in the 22" - 25" diameter range.  There were set up on the mill "heart center" and milled to be 16-1/2" thick or so and treated with Timbor.  We left all logs a few feet long so that we could trim out the worst of the end checks.

Next they were air dried for 9 months under shelter, and then we removed the bark (unfortunately to discover a plethora of bugs).  So next up they were treated to a 6 day 150 degree sterilization run in the kiln.  I knew going in that this would cause them to internally check (honeycomb), but thought it best to get the heat as deep as possible into the timber so as to kill all eggs, larvae and bugs existing in the deeper cracks.

We then set them back up in the Peterson and first used the regular blade to flatten both sides, and then we installed the planer blade to clean up the "show" side.  Ultimate thickness was 15".  The 20 footer started out as 27' and we surfaced both sides in order for it to be as co-planer as possible.  The 6 foot bench was actually the cutoff After that into the shop for many hours of sanding, chamfering, and 4 coats of the Concentrated Finishing Oil.

If I had it to do over again, the only thing that I would do differently would be to remove the bark when we milled, instead of waiting.  Waiting made it easier to remove the bark, but the tradeoff was the bugs.  I would also use 2" x 3" angle for the decorative metal around the wood bases, instead of the channel.  The top flange of the angle would be attached to the bottom side of the bench, so there would be no base flange.  The 11" square wood bases protrude about 3/16" below the metal so as to provide a wide contact patch with the floor and reduce the concentrated point loading.

[Don P]

That is some truly beautiful work Scott, well done! Thanks for sharing 

[WDH]

I think that the cracks, checks, and the honeycombing really makes the benches. 

[Burlkraft]

Nice project Scott

[ron barnes]

Very nice.  Thanks for posting.

[Babylon519]

Your story and accompanying photos would be a great feature in your local newspaper or campus paper. I'm sure the community would be reassured to know how much thought and care goes into "treecycling" efforts. Nicely done!
-Jason

[Peter Drouin]

Nice job, and a lot of work for a two sided log, How does a man price a thing like that?
Not asking for what you charged for them, But by the hour?, Bf?
Or whatever you felt like that day.  :D :D :D ;)

[cbla]

beautiful

[scsmith42]

Nice job, and a lot of work for a two sided log, How does a man price a thing like that?
Not asking for what you charged for them, But by the hour?, Bf?
Or whatever you felt like that day.  :D :D :D ;)

Peter, I had to estimate my time and provide them with a fixed bid in advance.  All in all, I figured that there would be 100 man hours of labor involved and I was pretty close.

[Peter Drouin]

It is also true, estimating jobs like that come from doing them, Nice work,
All I get is'  Hay Pete, I need more 2x4s  :D